Fig. 5.

Effect of statin on cytokine secretion induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy controls (HC) and chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) patients. PBMCs from HC (○, n = 7–9) and CIU patients (•, n = 6–7) were incubated with simvastatin (S) and lovastatin (L) (25 µm) for 24 h followed by LPS (100 ng/ml) stimulation for 24 h. Supernatant levels of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6 and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). *P < 0·05, **P < 0·01, ***P < 0·001.